This invention relates to a packaged assembly consisting of a plurality of disposable diapers orderly packed within a package so that these diapers may be placed one upon another between both side walls opposed to each other.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-42028A discloses a packaged assembly consisting of a plurality of pants-type disposable diapers orderly packed within a package each comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and a liquid-absorbent core disposed between these two sheets. Within the package, these diapers are arranged so that front waist regions are opposed to rear waist regions for respective pairs of the adjacent diapers. Each of these diapers packed in this manner, a crotch region is folded toward the rear waist region of this diaper. Within the package, waist-surrounding peripheral end portions of the front and rear waist regions of the respective diapers occupy an upper packaging space of the package and the remaining portions of the respective diapers except for the waist-surrounding peripheral end portions occupy the lower packaging space defined below the upper packaging space.
In most of the disposable diaper, the liquid-absorbent core does not extend to the waist-surrounding peripheral end portions of the front and rear waist regions and therefore the remaining portion of the diaper except for the waist-surrounding peripheral end portions has a thickness larger than that of those waist-surrounding peripheral end portions. Particularly when the crotch regions of the respective diapers are folded toward the respective rear waist regions to pack the diapers in this manner of the prior art, the thickness of the remaining portions except for the waist-surrounding peripheral end portions of the waist regions will be remarkably larger than the thickness of these waist-surrounding peripheral end portions. This will lead to a remarkably large difference of the thickness between the portion of the diapers occupying the upper packaging space of the package and the remaining portions of the diapers occupying the lower packaging space of the package.
According to the packaged assembly as disclosed in the above-cited Publication, a total thickness of a group of diapers placed one upon another between both side walls opposed to each other of the package is larger in the packaging lower space than in the upper packaging space of the package. In other words, even if the diapers are packed so as to occupy the maximum dimension between the both side walls opposed to each other of the package at its bottom, a gap will be left between each pair of the adjacent waist-surrounding peripheral end portions of the diapers in the upper packaging space of the package and efficiency for packing the diapers into the package will be deteriorated. Furthermore, this packaged assembly of the prior art is disadvantageous in that, when the groups of the diapers stacked vertically are packed in the package, the groups of the diapers occupying the upper packaging space of the package tend to flatten or collapse the waist-surrounding peripheral end portions of the diapers occupying the lower packaging space of the package and may form these waist-surrounding peripheral end portions of the diapers with a plurality of irregular wrinkles.